An electric power supplier operates electric power so that a quantity of electricity demand does not exceed a quantity of the electric power supply in every district for adjustment of demand and supply. The term “the district for the adjustment of demand and supply” connotes a physical area that is statically determined from a power transmission and distribution network.
On the other hand, there exists a technique called a demand response (DR). According to the DR, a power supplier requests a demander of the electric power (a consumer of the electric power) to reduce a power consumption and to change a period of time of the consumption. The power supplier, if it is predicted that a demand quantity of the electric power exceeds a supply quantity of the electric power in a certain demand-and-supply adjustment district, implements the DR with respect to this demand-and-supply adjustment district and adjusts the demand for the electric power. Herein, the power supplier is exemplified by a power company and a power producer and supplier (PPS). Further, the consumer of the electric power is exemplified by a driver of an electric vehicle (EV). The EV may be, without being limited to an automobile driven by only the electricity, e.g., a hybrid car of such a type that the car is mounted with a gasoline engine and an electric motor and is thereby driven, and includes a so-called plug-in hybrid car in which the EV can be charged with the electricity directly from a socket.
A DR-based request is notified to a system of the EV driver from the system of the power supplier by use of IT technologies. The system of the EV driver is exemplified by car navigation software installed in the EV and a mobile terminal such as a smartphone carried by the EV driver.
In the case of implementing the DR for a certain demand-and-supply adjustment district, it frequently happens that the power consumption in the demand-and-supply adjustment district abruptly rises immediately after a DR target period terminates. This is because the EV is disabled from being used if not charged with the electricity, and the EV driver has a strong tendency to charge the EV with the electricity promptly when reaching a chargeable period of time. Moreover, this phenomenon is influenced by a quick charging technology. Further, the EVs are to move, and hence such a possibility exists that a good number of EVs concentrate at the demand-and-supply adjustment district.
The power supplier desires to avoid the abrupt rise of the power consumption. This is because when the power consumption abruptly rises, the demand and the supply are hard to be adjusted. However, a known DR issuance system does not assume the EVs as DR targets. Accordingly, in the case of implementing the DR with respect to the EV, as described above, there is the tendency that the power consumption abruptly increases immediately after the DR implementation target period terminates.
As described above, the prior arts do not assume the EVs as the DR targets, and therefore such a problem exists that the power consumption abruptly increases immediately after the DR implementation target period terminates.